Tag Archives: Sami

UNIKKAAQTUARNIQ: Stories from the North – Inuit & Sámi films projected onto a screen made of snow!

Last year Ottawa based Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival screened a program of shorts produced by Indigenous filmmakers at Landsdowne Park. The winter weather cooperated with enough snow to build a large screen upon which the films were projected. At last year’s opening, along with the films, hot drinks were served as well as performances by local Indigenous artists. This year Silla + Rise was the opening act for the first day, Thursday, February 1 and the programming theme is “Indigenous filmmaking from the Arctic.”

Tonight is the final night for the screenings! This initiative has been in partnership with the Embassy of Norway with programming that has included shorts from Sámi filmmakers. The Sámi are the Indigenous people from the territories that are now known as Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia.

This event is FREE and features family-friendly programming. Dress warm and come on out to enjoy the final evening.

“Unikkaaqtuarniq” means Storytelling in the Inuktitut language, and is an ancient form of magic, with the power to connect the past with the present, teach lessons, impart values, heal, to explain the world and connect us to the universe through language and mythology. The stories in this program come from the Inuit people of Canada and Sami of northern Scandinavia, Indigenous peoples who have thrived in the arctic regions of the world for thousands of years, sharing stories inside the Sami lavvu and Inuit tupiq, enduring the changing seasons of dark and light, of colonialism, of climate change. Although these cultures live thousands of kilometres away from each other, they share a common history of resilience in their language, culture and magic through storytelling.

We Are Still Here
Sofia Jannock • 5:14 • 2016 • Sweden
A powerful song and music video that is a statement about the continuing presence of the Sami people.

Just Give Me the Word
Sara Margrethe Oskal • 4:00 • 2017 • Norway • Sami
Sami artist Emma Elliane raps in her mother tongue about exploitations of the earth. Shot in Guovdageaidnu, a Sami community that has been fighting against multinational mining companies for years

Hila
Adam Bentley • 3:27 • 2016 • Canada
An Inuit woman becomes the first person to ever be featured in a choreographed snowshoe dance video.

Inuk Hunter
George Annanack • 2016 • 4:04 • Canada • Sign Language
A poetic and contemplative film about an Inuk man hunting for northern lights with his camera.

Kuujjuaq
Sammy Gadbois (Inuit) • 4:54 • 2016 • Canada • English
A video essay about the perspective of a teenager on his hometown.

Snow
Nivi Pederson • Greenland • 2017 • 7 Min.
Shovelling snow in the capital of Greenland is a big part of everyday winter life. Three Nuuk residents share their reflections – and frustrations – about this seemingly never-ending task. The Tao of Snow Shovelling!

Jurret On (Under Two Skies)
Anssi Komi, Suvi West • Sapmi – Finland • 2017 • 12 Min.
Pregnant with her first child, Helsinki-based director Suvi West shares her longing to return north to her ancestral lands to ensure her child has a northern Sámi identity. While her Finnish partner Anssi does not feel at home up north, his love for her makes him contemplate a change in lifestyle and a move to Sápmi. This personal documentary is a portrait of a couple at a crossroads in their lives and a testament to one’s deep love for their land.

Shaman
Echo Henoche • Canada • 2017 • 5 min
The story of a ferocious polar bear turned to stone by an Inuk shaman. Hand-drawn and painted by Henoche in a style all her own, Shaman shares with the world her perspective on this Labrador Inuit legend.

Three Thousand
Asinnajaq • Canada • 2017 • 14 Min.
Artist Asinnajaq throws a creative net into the National Film Board of Canada’s audiovisual archive, weaving historic footage of the Inuit into a stunningly original animation. In 14 minutes of luminescent cinema, she recasts the past, present and future of the Inuit in a surprising new light.

PROGRAM #2 (1 Hour)

Sámi Bojá
Elle Sofe Henriksen • 9 min • 2015 • Norway
Mikkel is a reindeer herder who has the entire responsibility for the herd of his family. He has a tough shell like a sámi boy should have. But in his inside there is chaos.

Burning Sun
Elle Márjá Eira • 12 min • 2015 • Norway
Májjen carries a very special hat. All the women in her tribe wear this hat. Its shape resembles a horn. The hat is of great value for her. But the men representing the church mean the hat has a likeness to the horn of the devil itself. So the hats must be extinguished

Edith & Aljosja
Ann Holmgren • 8 min • 2015 • Sweden
A woman and a man, a river keeps them separated. They have to break the laws of nature to come close to each other. A simple story about love that defies cultural differences.

Áile & Grandmother
Siljá Somby • 12 min • 2015 • Norway
Grandmother and Áile are close to one another and Grandmother teaches Áile the powers of Nature and healing, however Áile has a secret that puts their bond to the ultimate test, forcing Áile to open up, but can she save their relationship?

The Afflicted Animal
Egil Pedersen • 15 min • 2015 • Norway
A young girl seeks help for her afflicted dog, but other members in her family need more help. The mother is lost in her own mind, the father wants to cure his loneliness and the girl is searching for truth. The film takes place in a small Sámi home in a remote area in Northern Norway and portrays a dysfunctional relationship between father and daughter.

Warming up winter with free Indigenous film screenings.

Asinabka, one of Ottawa’s favourite summer film festivals, along with the Ottawa Art Gallery is presenting Unikkaaqtuarniq: Stories from the North just in time to celebrate Ottawa’s favourite season – winter! On Friday an outdoor screening will highlight Indigenous filmmaking from the Arctic and will include “a continuous looping program of short films by Inuit and Sámi filmmakers projected in a theatre made of snow.”

Presented in partnership with Skábmagovat film festival (Inari, Finland), the City of Ottawa, the Embassy of Finland, Gallery 101, the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre and Winterlude.

Also, part of the programming is award-winning filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s Angry Inuk

“In her film Angry Inuk, Inuit director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit as they campaign to challenge long-established perceptions of seal hunting. Though most commercial sealing is conducted by Inuit in the Arctic, anti-sealing activism has created a perception of the industry that denies their central role in the sealskin market.”

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